Automatic telephone system



H. SYWES.

I AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE SYSSTEM. v APPLICATION FILE!) NOV 9 ss 53373. Patentesept. 21,1920. v I 2 SHEETs-SHEET W7//////// W//x fam/cfar ,63477166 I H. SYMES.

AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE SYSTEM.

APPLICATION r'n No v. 9. 96.-

Patenfd Sept. 21, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

FIE"2 F 5 FI [3 4 ;FjE

jaa /l# rise.

I-IENRY SYMES, Oli' DUNEDIN, NEW ZEALAlN'D.

AUTOMATIC TELErHoNE SYSTEM.

Application fi1ed November 9, 1 916. Serial No, 13 O,423.4 i

- To all whom it may concem i Be it known that I, HENRY SYMES, asubject of His Majesty the King of Great Britain, residing at 91 Princes 'street,` in the city of Dunedin, in the British Dominion of New Zealand, have invented certain new and useful Improv'ements in Automatic Telephone Systems, and` do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled inthe art to'. which it appertains to make and use thesame.

- e The object of this invention is to set forth a telephone that'can either be' used as a Subscriber@ instrument, or be instantly changed to be worked by coins in Slots, for both sending or receiving messages, either for street boxes, or for household use, 'and one that could be used, eitherby the sender payng, :tree to the receiver, or by both sender and receiverpaying, not necessarily the same amount, :for /ins'tance a penny or more might be charged for sending and say a half-penny for receiving." The instrument can also be instantly .adjusted tof work say with mixed pence and half-penes as convenient to the sender, up totwo pence halfpenny and with pence to three pence, while if the sender were; short of these, a silver three penny piece would work the instrument, no matter at what price the instrument 'was set to be worked at.

As mentioned, pence and half pence may be interchangeably used in most cases, if put in as directed, but if tampering is ,tried say either by a string or hair being attached to the coin, or by a stripof metal-forced in,

thegmachine will refuse ;to `.work and the coin cannot be let down sufliciently to work the instrument. i

All these alterationsor 'adjustments of the instrument can be instantlyefiected by merely altering a-switch or. sliding an adjustable part up or down' as needed. Thus for instance, more mightbe' charged after certain hours, if desiredandvice versa.

Most parts are those of the usual micro- ,telephone with the addition of certain units to beherein described. v

,asneededL Alterations can also dhe 'instantly effects d to combat adverseweather or long distanceconditions. I I g v I Coins of any nationcan be worked wth All neededwould be, perhaps to alter th'e width ofslots for this purpose. i

- Referring to :the accompanying draw- Figure l i is' a diagram of th complete wrng of the telephone substation, the

microtelephone is, a 'wellknown form being shown appled to thehook level'. xFig. 2 is the elevation of the slotted coinchute adapt-- lowed by apennywould not, but a' fine of another coin would act. VFig; 4 is alongitudnal section; of igs. 3 and 5 with coins shown in position in the slotsp Fig. 5 is' the elevaton of the small slot for a three penny piece. Fign 6 is a plan of both .slots i these details being to a larger scalelthan F ig. 1. Fig. 7 is a dia-grammatic view showing the parts of the automatic caller, and a portion of 'a contactmaking and breaking rod operative thereby. A is theusual automatic caller with cover removed'prefera-bly placed in the door of the instrument and so arranged that cam A that breaks and makes Contacts A when calling, also forces out the hinged end M of rod M, if same' Were .turned down straightandin the slot P by pressing sloping plate :M at end. of, rod M, which makes or breaks contactK as indicated. At is the usual arm whichis now used to break' the secondary line whilec'all 1 v ing and remake same when callis finished.. B is the bell set and B a, contact in the bell circuit. 13 is an insulated contact maker attached to .hook-lever.- B is an ex tended arm vibrating when the bell rings, V.

aided by weight Btfor forcing rod M into slot P This is only used when payment is made by' th'ecalled Subscriber as for 'free .receiving the arm M is bent up as shown.

C s the condenser connected up tox'thei bell'set as shown and also to the contact B or, is included in the bell circuit for well known reasons. C is a contact which is common to both protectors and worked by a loo'p in thecircut s'o that either protector if 7 tampered with would cause a break of the circuit. In Eig, 4 the-protectoris shown in I normal position in the larger slotwith contact ,0 closed' and in .the smaller slot with the endQpassing like a blade of scissors e over the fixed part R which it could not do if anything were attached to a coin and even if the tail were forced out, C would be broken as shown, the primary circuit being cut.

F is a contact closed when a three penny piece is placed in its slot, by its pressing out the tail of F In the larger slot the sliding device D is so placed that the tail D touchesthe top edge of the last coin when more than one are used, see Figs. 2 and 3 so a smaller one would slip past and another be needed, to close the circuit. It will thus be seen that the small silver coin acts asa master and works the instrument no matter how set for Copper coins.

I is the usual induction coil, J a distributing terminal. K is a contact closed bythe action of the bell. L L are the usual line wires.` N is any coin receiving boX placed where desired. O is a forked rod worked by the hook-lever orcing the three fork prongs `into the slots when the telephone is off the hook as see Fig. 4. The upper prong enters at the side of the larger slot so that a half penny can pass, but a penny cannot, anotherenters centrally below and prong 0 enters the smaller slot centrally as shown all working both in or out together, so the hanging up of the telephone allows any coins to' drop into boX N.

P indicates a penny, HP a half penny, T a three penny piece, P the copper coin s slot, T the silver coin s slot, S the top of the telephone boX.

The slot P can instantly be altered for the instrument to be worked by (1) a half penny, either a penny or two half pence, (3) either a penny and a half penny or three halt pence as shown, (4:) either' two pence, or one penny and two halt pence, or four half pence, (5) two pence anda half penny or a penny and three half pence, (6) three pennies, (no half pence 'in this case.) (7) as mentioned a three penny bit would do in all-these cases, say as an emergency coin.

To use, the telephone is taken off its hc ok and the automatic call is made, the answering voice can now be heard if the call were effective but the caller must drop the required coin in the slot before he can be heard as that closes the primary current.

The circuit through the switches 5,' 6, and 7 are shown broken; to -make either, the switch is moved to its corresponding block or contact.

i The crcuits are'asfo llows For an ordinary automatic telephone, the circuit will be from L to B B to the calling Contacts A then to rheostat R and to line. i r

The primary circuit will be from R to jack 4 then out at 1 to primary coil through J to C from C to D, then to E and to R hen three pence are inserted in the slot,

exchange.`

the circuit will be from 0 to F, F to E, then to R the receiver circuit being from 13 to G then to jack 3 and out at 2 to secondary coil I, then to A on to G and to The bell circuit will be from B to C then through B to'reversed switch 5, then to H and consequently G to R When receiving free messagesthe circuit will be from J to reversed switch 6 then to K, on to E and to E The circuit of the automatic telephone will be from 6 to reversed switch 7 from 7 to E, and to E switch 6 remaining as shown.

The rheostat, in series with the'main line, consists of suflicient suitable double silk covered platinoid wire, preferably No. 36, to give the desired resistance; it is woundon a suitable reel, with or without a soft iron core. The desired voltage may then be drawn ofl the said coil for energizing the microphone and primary coil, by soldering branch wires on the points of the coil, found, either by calculation or a volt-meter, and the branch line or lines may then be led to a switch, which may be so moved as to obtain any desired voltage, or a fixed voltage may be used without the switch. When the instrument is set as a coin telephone and a caller desires connection with someone outside` the automatic circuit, he removes the receiver from its hook .and makes the usual long distance call. He then replaces the receiver 'and waits'till the bell rings which, by the action of B closes the primary circuit at K, allowing free communication with the He then removes the receiver and" dials the number the exchange gives, which disconnects the primary circuit by cam A forcing back rod M by -acting on plate M He can now hear the answering voice of the Subscriber wanted, if successful,

but must put in the prescribed coin or coins in the usual manner in order to be heard.

- The fraud protectng device consists of an arm Q bent and pivotednear its center, the top sharp edge of which works like a scissor blade with a'relatively Operating sharp edge E Normally, the lower tail of O closes the slot as shown, but a passing coin causes the scissor blades, which are the whole length of the slot, toclose. This would either cut a fine wire or thread, or, if not, would break the circuit at C and so renderthe instrument useless. This action' is clearly shown, the blades being open in` slot P and closed in slot T the contacts 0 being respectively shown closed' and broken, the width of the blades being shown -in Fig. 5 and also in F ig. 2. The blades R are fixtures.

It will be seen that when any coin falls to the prongstops O or 0 as the case may be, the small slot T is shown with a'fiXed closing device f whereby the circuit is closed by the coin, and, in the larger slot P the analogous device is movable, this latter is so that it can instantly be altered to suit the size and number of the coins that are required to actuate the machine, the contact being placed as near the upper edge of the coin that comes or comes in last as needed, so that a smaller one Would fail to make the required contact. This is plainly shown by the parts D in Figs. 2 and 3.

In this invention, any suitable materials or szes may be adopted.

What is claimed is:

A telephone system of the class specified comprisng the usual line and line connectons, transmitter, recever, hook arm, contact and an automatic caller, of a coin slot forked rod connected to and operated by the hook lever When the latter is released, the

fol-ks of the rod transversely entering the slots of the elements, a slidable rod operative by the automatic caller to make and break the circuit through the said contact and a slide having proj ecting means extending into the wider slot of the slotted element,

the slide contact and the contacts of the elements exposed to the Slots in the latter all being electrically connected with the circuits of the system for completing the circuits bythe insertionof coins in the Slots` m hand in presence of the subscribing Wit-` nesses.

HENRY SYMES.

Witnesses:

HINTON MACAULAY DAVEY, J. T. WALTER. 

